Rex Black Consulting Services | software testing experts
providing consulting, outsourcing, and software training

"The national annual cost of [poor] software testing is estimated to range from $22.2 to $59.5 billion." - US National Institute for Standards and Technology

"Poor testing is one of the four leading causes of schedule and budget overruns and outright cancellation of projects." - Capers Jones, software quality industry expert and author, in his book Estimating Software Costs

Did you know that, according to the US National Institute for Standards and Technology, the US economy alone loses as much as $60 billion per year due to poor software testing? Software industry expert Capers Jones reports that poor testing is one of the four leading causes of schedule and budget overruns and outright cancellation of projects. Poor testing takes many forms, from purely ad hoc, unmeasurable testing to testing by underskilled, unqualified staff to testing that simply fails to meet targets for effectiveness or efficiency--or worse yet has no targets for effectiveness or efficiency.

At RBCS, we offer Pragmatic Software Testing ™ to help you achieve your key objectives. Pragmatic Software Testing is RBCS' exclusive methodology that effectively and efficiently achieves key testing objectives. Our software test consultants will show you how to find more defects, and more of the most important defects. Our software test consultants will show you how to save money on field failures and improve your company's reputation for quality. We will show you how to reduce risk to an appropriate level, and make risk-aware release decisions. We will show you how to deliver measurable, reliable information to key project stakeholders. We will show you how to test in a way that builds confidence, so you can release software and systems with less worry.

RBCS's software test consulting services to transform your testing into Pragmatic Software Testing include:

• Test Assessments: Following Rex Black's professionally-acclaimed book, Critical Testing Processes, we examine the twelve critical testing processes for effectiveness and efficiency, including defect detection and return on investment metrics. The assessment report will also list specific, prioritized recommendations, your roadmap for future test process improvement. A typical assessment engagement involves about one week on-site by our software test consultants, plus one week of off-site analysis and report preparation. Find out more about how our Test Assessment service can help you.
• Quality Assessments: We evaluate and make recommendations for the best overall approach to achieve quality on your projects. Be confident in the quality of your deliverables throughout the process, from requirements, design and code reviews to unit, integration, system, and acceptance testing. Our software test consultants also compare financial and project timelines of your current practices against the industry's best practices. A typical assessment engagement involves about one week on-site, plus one week of off-site analysis and report preparation. Find out more about how our Quality Assessment service can help you.
• Jump-Starts: RBCS provides short engagements that bring best practices into your test processes. All jump-starts enable you to introduce a new technique, approach, tool or process in your organization quickly, bypassing common mistakes and pitfalls. For example, we've helped many clients implement a solid risk-based testing strategy, allowing them to deal with schedule and budget constraints in a way that intelligently and transparently manages risk. A typical jump-start engagement involves anywhere from one week to two months of on-site services by our software test consultants, and generally includes a blend of training, consulting, and hands-on mentoring on a pilot project. Find out more about how our Jump-Starts can help you.